Memories of being 'mentally, physically and verbally abused'

Gympie Aboriginal Elder Aunty Lillian Burke talks with her friend Sean Connelly about her childhood, and why NAIDOC Week is so important.

UNITED AS ONE: NAIDOC committee co-chairs Aunty Lillian Burke and Sean Connelly at the fly the flag event in Gympie today. Picture: Philippe Coquerand

BECAUSE of her, we can! is the theme of this year's NAIDOC Week.

Day two of NAIDOC Week got off to a good start yesterday with about 60 people in attendance at Nelson Reserve Sound Stage.

The co-chairs of the NAIDOC Committee in Gympie, Aboriginal Elder Aunty Lillian Burke and Sean Connelly, have overcome cultural barriers for the past 10 years and are prime examples of what reconciliation is all about.

Mr Connelly said they had triumphed through some difficult years.

"We have a bit of a formula that happens. We know what the community needs, we respect culture and what it's about and I think Aunty Lillian Burke and myself personify what reconciliation is all about,” he said.

Aunty Lillian Burke, 69, a Butchulla woman with a Kabi Kabi connection, said it was only in 2004 that she learnt about her Aboriginal heritage.

Her early life in Cherbourg was fractured when, at the age of 10, she was taken from her nanna, marched to a state-run Aboriginal settlement, and forced to live in the girls' dormitory.

"We were mentally, physically and verbally abused day in and day out,” she said.

"We didn't have any nurturing, we had to be good for a month to go up and spend six hours in a camp with family members who took you out for the day.

"It robbed us of our childhood and it robbed us of a lot when it comes to family.”

Aunty Lillian said NAIDOC Week was about breaking down the barriers and becoming united as one.

"It's about people and recognising the past. I just want to see the acknowledgement to the First Nations people and for them to understand and recognise the past's history,” she said.

A Family Fun Day will be held on Friday, July 20 at the Gympie Showgrounds from 9.30am-2pm.

NAIDOC Week celebrations

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